Therapeutic Device for the Relief of Coughing Symptoms

ABSTRACT

A support device for the non-invasive draining of mucus to provide therapeutic relief from coughing symptoms, particularly in those whose natural exhalation and natural coughing ability are impaired, and a method for its use is disclosed. The device being low-cost enough to be suitable for either in-home or disposable clinical use. Also disclosed is the ability to incorporate the device into an automated positioning system, which would allow a user to increase alignment resolution and repeatability.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. application Ser. No.62/285,532.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a device and a method of its use toalleviate the symptoms of a chronic cough.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Chronic coughing is a relatively common condition treated by medicalprofessionals worldwide. It is symptomatic of many ailments. The mostnotable of which are complications from chronic bronchitis or sufferingfrom permanent lung damage due to long-term smoking. The later conditionis often referred to, colloquially, as a smoker's cough.

The body's protective reaction a person experiences when inhaling smokeor toxins is commonly described as a “dry” cough. This form of cough isan irritated involuntary reaction that ceases shortly after the smoke ortoxins are expelled from or prevented from entering into the lungs. Asmoker's cough, on the other hand, can be more accurately described asthe body's attempt to compensate for the failed performance of hair-likestructures, called cilia. These naturally occurring cilia are prevalentin the nasal passage and trachea. Their primary function is to preventharmful toxins from entering into the lungs by sweeping toxin-ladenmucus either directly into the esophagus from the nasal passage or outof the trachea and into the esophagus.

The act of long-term smoking has been linked with rendering theaforementioned cilia ineffective. Once a significant portion of thesecilia are ineffective, either through destruction or over-exertion, theycan no longer prevent toxin-laden mucus from entering the lungs. Thisresults in an overproduction of mucus in the nasal passage and thetrachea. Essentially unchallenged, toxin-laden mucus enters into andremain within the lungs, which triggers additional mucus productionwithin the lungs themselves. The body naturally, inadvertently, andineffectively attempts to expel these toxins and the associated mucus bycoughing. Unlike the body's protective dry cough, a smoker's cough isgenerally described as a “wet” cough, attempting to expel the body'sunwanted mucus.

Medical professionals start diagnosing a smoker's cough, acutebronchitis, and chronic bronchitis by completing a thorough review ofthe patient's medical history. A physical examination is also performedand this includes listening to to the sounds of a patient's respirationwith a stethoscope. Lung sounds that may point to an underlyingdiagnosis of bronchitis include wheezing and crackling sounds that cango away temporarily after coughing ceases.

Treatment of the smoker's cough generally requires that a patient toquit smoking. The longer a person has smoked, however, the moredifficult it may be to quit. Moreover, there is an increased chance thatwith a long history of smoking, permanent damage to the cilia and lungshas already occurred, resulting in a permanent and persistent smoker'scough. This cough frequently occurs in the morning as the body attemptsto clear toxin-laden mucus from the lungs and airways that has built upduring the night. Occasionally, however, a person is prevented from evenfalling asleep due to an incessant, involuntary, smoker's cough, whichis the body's attempt to prevent mucus from draining from the nasalpassage into the trachea in the first place.

The current smoker's cough treatment offered by medical providers isdirected primarily at medications and mouth devices, which are temporaryin nature, highly invasive, and are often ineffective in allowing thepatient to achieve a full night of productive sleep.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The preferred embodiment of the present invention and the method for itsuse is a device designed to address and alleviate a smoker's coughwithout resorting to medication or invasive mouth devices. From theoryand testing, it has been observed that the angle at which a person'shead is held, greatly affects the path that mucus drains. Becausesomeone with a smoker's cough basically has ineffective nasal cilia inaddition to tracheal cilia, the mucus drains directly into the trachea,and subsequently the lungs, instead of the esophagus. This creates twoseparate physiological bodily reaction points: a cough to prevent themucus from draining into the trachea and a cough to attempt to expel themucus once it is in the trachea or even the lungs. Once a person beginsto experience a smoker's cough, it is hard to cease the involuntaryaction.

The present invention and method for its use retains the head in a fixedposition and allows mucus to drain past the sensitive coughing area ofthe throat, directly into the esophagus. The present invention and themethod for its use only requires application for 5 to 10 minutes. Thisis enough time to direct the day's residual mucus into the esophagus,not only ceasing the involuntary smoker's cough and allowing for a goodnight's sleep, but also helping to prevent mucus build-up within thelungs during the night, preventing the smoker's cough from starting assoon as the person wakes up.

Although several inventions exist that will hold a person's head in agiven position, for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,797 to Shaffer, a facedown tanning and massage pad, U.S. Pat. No. 6,842,924 B1 to Walters, asurgical head rest, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,718,581 B2 to Riach, a supportdevice, none of these existing inventions provide the ability to changethe angle at which the head is held and be produced at a lowmanufacturing cost. For example, many of them require much more materialto construct than the preferred embodiment. Additionally, devices suchas these require larger areas for storage when they are not in use.

The preferred embodiment is made from a dense foam, which allows thedevice to be either custom fitted or made in a variety of standard sizesat a very low manufacturing cost.

Although the precise angle at which the head must be held varies fromperson to person, each individual possesses one idiosyncratic angle atwhich the device proves optimally effective. The method of discoveringthis angle remains the same for each individual and can include generalplacement guidelines based on physiological characteristics and medicalstandards, allowing the user to locate the optimum angle with minimaldevice manipulation.

In an alternate embodiment, the device placement is controlled throughan electronically-operated, mechanically-actuated positioning systemcapable of manipulating and maintaining the person's head in a preciseand pre-determined position. A controlling computer will determine theoptimum position based on the person's physiology and provide thealternate embodiment with a device target position, at which point thedevice will mechanically-actuate to match the target. Variations of thealternate embodiment will also involve different degrees of motion andstoring previous target settings to improve the repeatability andreliability of the device. For example, one embodiment may actuate inone or more of the following ways: to induce flexion or extension; toinduce lateral bending; or to induce rotation. This alternate embodimentmay be a single device or a base that uses the preferred embodiment as adisposable insert, allowing for use in clean medical environments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view depicting the perimeter of one the preferredembodiment of the present invention that also depicts the fillet radiusfrom the front face to the edge-wall outer surface.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 depicts the edge-wall support structures of the preferredembodiment. It also depicts the fillet radius of the back face to theedge-wall outer surface and the fillet radius from the inner cavitysurface to the edge-wall inner surface.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the edge-wall support structure,inner surface fillets, and the upper portion of the edge-wall outersurface.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the preferred embodiment depicting the outersurface of the edge-wall and the fillets connecting said surface to boththe front and back surfaces.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As depicted and referenced in FIG. 1, the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention utilizes a perimeter shape with an outer surface 200that is substantially flat on the bottom side 22, transitions 206 to afirst side, transitions 208 to a top side 24, transitions 210 to aheadrest surface 212 that is contoured to generally provide comfort andsupport for the user, and follows a substantially similar path from thetop 24 down a second side to return to the bottom side 22 and surface216. The device has a front surface 100 that generally transitions 202to the outer surface 200.

Further depicted in FIG. 2, the general transition 202 of the frontsurface 100 from the front 10 to the side surface 200 follows a gradualand generally smooth path. The transition of the outer surface 200 tothe first side occurs at surfaces 206 and 208, and the joining of theouter surface to the headrest surface 212 occurs at surface 210. Inaddition, the outer surface 200 similarly transitions to the back 30through 204. In the preferred embodiment, all transition surfaces 202,204, 206, 208, and 210 are generally smooth and commonly referred to inthe manufacturing arts as either a fillet or radius, depending on theplane of reference. A person of ordinary skill in the art wouldrecognize that multiple types of transitions would create asubstantially similar feature. For example, replacing the fillet of 202with a chamfer is considered an equivalent manufacturing technique.

The contoured headrest of surface 212 is configured such that thegeneral adult forehead may be placed in between surfaces 210 and 214 andrest upon surface 212 such that the counter of 212 generally aligns withthe lateral curvature of the adult forehead. In an alternate embodiment,the contour of 212 may come in a variety of shapes, such that differentsizes of the present invention can be made to accommodate varyingphysiology. The precise contour of the headrest is not an object of thepresent invention.

The present invention comprises of an edge-wall, generally referenced as218, that substantially forms the perimeter of the invention and isdepicted in FIG. 3. The edge-wall, which is substantially perpendicularto the inner surface 500, receives structural support that generalrestricts device deformation along forces applied in the direction oftop 24 to bottom 22 by including at least one cross-member, generallyreferenced as 400. The inclusion of multiple cross-members 400, asdepicted in the preferred embodiment, are integral and substantiallyperpendicular with the inner surface 500. A person of ordinary skill inthe art would recognize that alternate arrangements of cross-memberscould also be used to create the invention and are therefore disclosedherein. For example, in alternate embodiments, the cross-members mayform a lattice or intersect at angles other than ninety degrees. Theback of the invention is generally bounded by a back surface 300.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the present invention that depicts thetransition 204 from the outer surface 200 to the back surface 300 andalso discloses additional information about the integration of theedge-wall inner surface 220, the inner surface 500, and thecross-members 400. Forming negative cavities within the inventionconstruction, the volume partially bounded by the inner surface 500, theedge-wall 220, the cross-member side 402 that is substantiallyperpendicular to the inner surface 500, and the spatial plan that wouldbe theoretically bounded by the back surface 300 if it were present inthat location. As depicted in FIG. 4, the transition surface between theinner surface 500 and the inner surface of the edge-wall 220, in thepreferred embodiment is a gradual fillet 502. Although, a person ofordinary skill in the art would recognize structural equivalents to thedepicted surface transition. Similarly, the transitions 504 betweencross-member side surfaces 402 and the inner surface 500 are configuredsuch that excessive strain between the cross-member side surfaces 402and the inner surface 500 is avoided during use. Finally, FIG. 4discloses that the cross-members are integrally formed with each other404, to provide structural stability. This, however, may also beaccomplished through the manufacturing of discrete cross-members thatare disposed onto the device.

The generalized surface fillets of the present invention are depicted inFIG. 5. A side view of the transition 202 between the front surface 100and the outer surface, generally 200, and the back surface 300 isdisclosed. The front transition 202 facilitates the present inventiontilting from vertical toward the front surface 10.

We claim:
 1. A device comprising: an edge-wall, a front wall, and atleast one structural cross-member; wherein the front wall comprises afront surface and an inner surface; wherein said edge-wall comprises atop surface, a headrest surface, two side surfaces, and a bottomsurface, all said surfaces having a transition between any adjacentsurface; said edge-wall is further configured such that said headrestsurface is disposed within the top surface substantially between the twoside surfaces, and said headrest surface is configured to substantiallymatch the lateral curvature of a human forehead; wherein said structuralcross-member provides sufficient support to allow said headrest surfaceand edge-wall to support the force of a human head, wherein the human islying in a prone position, and the force is applied substantially fromthe top surface to the bottom surface.
 2. The device of claim 1, whereinall supporting cross-members are configured substantially perpendicularto the inner surface of the front wall.
 3. The device of claim 1,wherein at least one supporting cross-member is configured substantiallyparallel to the bottom surface of the edge-wall, and at least onesupporting cross-member is configured substantially perpendicular to thebottom surface of the edge-wall.
 4. The device of claim 1, wherein aplurality of supporting cross-members are neither parallel norperpendicular to the bottom surface of the edge-wall, forming a lattice.5. The device of claim 1, wherein said device is unitary and formed froma single piece of material.
 6. The device of claim 1, wherein saiddevice is unitary and fabricated from a solid piece of foam material. 7.The device of claim 1, wherein said device is not unitary and at leastone supporting cross-member is separately formed and disposed onto asurface of the device.
 8. The device of claim 1, wherein the transitionbetween the front surface and a bottom surface is a fillet.
 9. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the bottom surface is contoured such that thesurface is not planar.
 10. The device of claim 1, wherein at least onecross-member is fabricated from a denser material than the material usedto manufacture the edge-wall.
 11. The device of claim 1, wherein saiddevice is inflatable.
 12. A method for therapeutically relievingcoughing symptoms which comprises: laying in the prone position; restinga human head on a support device such that the head is in the mostflexion position without causing discomfort; observing a mucous drainpath; noting the amount of mucus draining; adjusting the relativeposition of a body or the device such that the human head rotates inextension; observing a new mucous drain path; comparing the amount ofmucus draining with the noted amount of mucus draining; furtheradjusting the relative position of a body or the device such that thehuman head rotates in extension until the observed amount of mucusdraining is less than the observed amount of mucus draining in theimmediately previously observed position; returning to the previousposition where the maximum noted amount of mucus was draining; andremaining in the position for ten minutes or until no more mucus isdraining.
 13. The Method of claim 12 wherein the steps involvingadjusting the relative position of a body or the device such that thehuman head rotates in extension is performed by an electrically-actuatedmechanical device.